Rental Cars/Child Seats

[BecBennett]

Originally I was going to rent a car with a car seat for our trip, but now I'm thinking we'll just take our car seat with us. Has anyone taken their car seat with them?

I just basically want to know, to know if the rental cars over there take car seats that aren't ISOFIX seats. I know this is probably a really stupid question, but just wanting to know so I can stop thinking about it.

 

[aussie shaz]

There was a post a while ago on TripAdvisor about this. You might want to search for it there.

 

[travelwith4kids]

Not speaking from experience as we havent been yet but have been researching extensively in the past 6 mths as we will need 3 seats.

You can install our seats there with a seatbelt and top tether but checking seats into luggage isnt considered the best thing as they get knocked around so much and could be damaged so if you want to maybe box it up to prevent damage?
Rental cars dont have the best reputation for good clean car seats and it may be dangerous to use a seat when you dont know the history (car accident or not).
We have decided to buy new when we get there. Works out same price as hiring and we dont have to worry about our 3 seats (which are pretty big) getting damaged. (we may get a seat shipped here for our toddler to use on the plane on the way over)

Edited to add... if its a rearfacing seat take a tether extender just incase it doesnt reach.

 

[newkie]

We rented a car seat for our 4 year old last October, all we asked for was a seat appropriate for him as per their laws and we got a harnessed seat. He only just fit, head poking just out of the shell, and straps going a bit far down behind his shoulders. Seat was old looking but clean. I thought about asking for a booster as he probably would have been over the weight limit for the seat, but as he is harnessed at home, I thought it was safer he stay harnessed on holiday too. I would have been more stressed about getting his arms out on a booster (or undoing the seat belt altogether) than I was about him being slightly too big for the seat.

Long story short, do as much research as you can, and look closely into buying a seat over there. If we had been renting our car for more than 3 days we would have purchased a more suitable seat for him.